


Minecraft: The Mystery of the Void

by Powers637



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Amnesia, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Minor Original Character(s), Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24246694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Powers637/pseuds/Powers637
Summary: Stephan wakes up on the beach, unaware of what the figures surrounding him want. When they give him a mission, he must survive in the wilderness, find civilization, and build strong friendships to ensure he can carry it through, and perhaps unravel what made him lose all memory of his past. On his journey, he'll face monsters, both inhuman and human, in order to protect all he holds dear.
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue

Stephan woke up with his face in the sand and a throbbing headache in the back of his head. He struggled to get up, feeling an immense pressure on his entire body. When he finally managed to lift his head, he opened his eyes to the sight of three dark figures with piercing emerald eyes.   
  


The figures were tall and imposing, leaning over him, and surrounded by a dark purple haze. They were muttering amongst themselves, speaking nothing that Stephan could understand (were those even words?, he asked himself). As he looked up, they suddenly fell silent and turned to him.  
  


“Wha…what are…?” Stephan sputtered before his words stopped coming out.

  
“Stephan,”

  
“Stephan,”

  
“Stephan,”

  
“Now.”

  
“It is your chance, Stephan.”

  
“Prove yourself. Find us. Release us.”

  
The figures then began to vibrate before they suddenly disappeared, leaving only purple dust in their wake.

  
His strength slowly returning, Stephan pulled himself up. He looked back at the sun rising behind him and felt the ocean’s waves lapping at his feet. It was going to be a long day, and his headache still hadn’t gone away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the adventure begins. Title is still working, but I like it. 
> 
> I'll try to update this often, since the quarantine has given me not much else to do. 
> 
> Thanks to makomako for being my Beta reader and editor, and thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephan embarks on his first day.

Stephan surprised himself with just how much he knew about surviving.  
  
When he took his first step off the beach, he knew that he needed to quickly find shelter, food, and tools. Where he got that from, he had no idea. He couldn’t remember anything from his past. A few images, sure; pictures of what he thought were his parents, a friend or two, a childhood bedroom. But any more than that he couldn’t place. How did he even get here? Why a beach of all places? He wasn’t soaked, so it’s not like he washed up after being lost at sea. So why was he there at all? _And what were those things?  
  
_ These thoughts plagued his head as he gathered any materials he could find. For some reason, he had a survival routine in his head for situations like these.  
  
First, find food. Apples were a good choice. They wouldn’t be enough to sustain him for a long time, but they were common enough for the short term.  
  
This led to step two, finding wood. While picking a few apples from the trees, he found a few branches of good length and snapped them off. They would be useful for:  
  
Step three, crafting some tools. The wood wasn’t strong enough on its own, but it could be combined with other materials until something more reliable was found.   
  
Holding an apple in his hand, Stephan set out to find some nice stones that could be tied to the wooden branches he held. Ten minutes later, he returned to his camping spot holding a small, varied collection of stones.   
  
_What next?  
  
_ Still not understanding how he knew to do this, he scoured the ground for long grass, finding a few good roots that he could use for his tools. Now feeling the heat of the sun, Stephan moved himself under the shade of a tree to cool down a bit. _Noon_ , he thought to himself. That was significant for some reason, but he wasn’t sure why, beyond that he might eventually need some sleep.  
  
His first tool was a pickaxe. He didn’t know why, but his instinct told him that he needed to make it before anything else. Stephan wrapped a few reeds around the stone and stick, making a nice criss-cross that could hold the pieces together under moderate stress.  
  
For his second tool, he made a small axe. It wouldn’t be able to get through a thick tree, but it would at least be enough to chip at a thin one enough to clear out some space. Felling a few trees would certainly make wood collection faster than the time it would take to scour the forest floor.   
  
For his final tool, he crafted a small dagger. Stephan wasn’t sure why his subconscious was so insistent on it (he hadn’t felt the need to kill any animals just yet), but he felt much safer knowing he could hold onto it while exploring.  
  
All of that exploring and crafting, along with the fact that his headache had only slightly reduced since he woke up, pushed Stephan into a nice nap. He cozied up to the tree and rested his head on the bark. It only took a moment before he fell asleep.

* * *

By the time he woke up, the sun had moved noticeably further down the sky. He estimated that he probably had a few hours left before sunset, and resolved to find some more stable shelter.  
  
Stephan picked up his tools, grabbed another apple from the tree, and began walking further inland. Now that he had some more time to think, he considered his situation with more thought. He seemed to have popped into existence from nowhere into a deep wilderness, only a few strange monsters to greet him. Speaking of, what the hell were those things? What did they mean, “release” them? They had given him no hints to why they needed to be released, or even the slightest piece of information of what he was supposed to be doing.  
  
For now, he decided to put that aside. He needed to survive, and he could focus on those strange creatures at some other time. The next thing he thought about was how lonely he felt. Where was everyone? He could remember a few faces, but he had very little idea about where he could find them now. Was he hopelessly lost in the wilderness, or could he find a settlement if he searched hard enough? He hoped that he would meet another person before he lost his sanity.   
  
Eventually, Stephan stumbled upon a small alcove in the side of a large hill. He peeked his head inside and found a surprisingly large space where he could lie down. While it wouldn’t be able to protect him from any temperature changes, it would at least be nice to stay out of the rain.  
  
Now that the sun was beginning to set, he felt an increasing sense of urgency. He didn’t know why he felt so afraid, but he knew he had to act fast before the sun disappeared. He quickly gathered up as much grass and vines as he could and set up something that he felt could be called a bed with moderate accuracy.  
  
Something pounded at the back of his head, telling him to get some rest before it was too late. Why did he feel such an urgency? What was he so afraid of?  
  
He didn’t question it any further. He’d love to find out how he knew all of this, but his instincts had gotten him this far, and he wasn’t going to doubt them now. With the sun setting, he settled into a dark corner of the hill’s alcove, entirely out of sight of the entrance.

* * *

Stephan woke up feeling that something was terribly wrong. Without moving, he opened his eyes to a sickly figure quietly groaning near the entrance of the alcove. It had apparently just entered his hidey hole, so far unaware of his presence. Its green skin was slightly lit up by the sun now slowly rising to mark the next day.  
  
Apparently, Stephan wasn’t as quiet as he thought, as his stirring was enough to alert the figure to his presence. The…thing turned to him, moaning and groaning, with its arms stretched out in front of it. Now that Stephan was able to get a good look at it, fear struck into his heart. Its skin was a dark green, with black patches spread around its body. Its bone was exposed in places, the flesh rotted completely off its right forearm. It had clothes, but they were so torn and tattered that it was a wonder they were staying on at all. Its cheeks had a large gash on the left side, exposing the teeth through the hole it created. Stephan felt like throwing up.  
  
The figure shambled towards him, a groan of hunger escaping from its rotting lips. Stephan lunged for his dagger and held it in front of him.  
  
“Back off!” he said. “I’m not afraid to use this!”  
  
But the figure didn’t stop moving towards him. Stephan’s fingers trembled, and he almost lost his grip on the dagger before he jumped out of his makeshift bed. He put himself in a ready stance, his dagger foot forwards, ready to strike.  
  
The figure took a swing at Stephan, which he easily side stepped…right into the side of the cave. Tripping on a loose rock, Stephan fell down and scraped his arms on the sharp stones. He scrambled to get up and managed to get out of the way the monster’s next strike. Positioned between what he now realized was a zombie and the entrance to the cave, he chose to give himself as much room as possible and backpedaled quickly to the entrance.  
  
Seeing its prey escaping, the zombie suddenly lunged forward onto Stephan. His knees buckled under the weight, and he fell onto his back, losing his grip on the dagger. The zombie thrashed its teeth at his face, barely kept away by Stephan’s hands which were desperately pushing it away. Pulling his last bit of strength from deep inside, he made a final push while rolling to his side, successfully throwing the zombie off of his body and into the world outside the cave.  
  
Immediately, the zombie began shrieking as the stench of burning flesh entered Stephan’s nostrils. Its skin began smoking and sizzling while it slowly burnt away into nothingness. The zombie struggled back into the cave, but its limbs burnt away before it could make any ground. With a final shriek, it disappeared.  
  
Stephan took a deep breath, suddenly realizing why he had felt such a desire to find shelter the day before. Were there more zombies out there? Or had that one only come into his cave to escape the sunlight? Stephan hoped that he wouldn’t see any other monsters while exploring outside.   
  
His stomach rumbled.  
  
 _God, I hope there’s something other than apples growing around here,_ he thought to himself before he set out once more, making sure to hold onto his dagger for safety.


	3. Chapter 3

Finally finished with his barrier, Stephan sat down to snack on a few berries. He had just spent an hour finding the best wood to create a primitive gate for his cave, and now no longer had to worry about zombies finding their way in. What he  _ did _ need to worry about, though, was the poor state of his tools. While finishing up his gate, the head of his stone axe shattered in his hands. He needed better materials, fast. And there was only one place he could go to find them. 

Stephan stood at the mouth of a large cave tunneling deep into the side of a nearby mountain. He had traveled twenty minutes to find this cave, and it seemed to go deep enough to house the iron he needed. However, there was one problem. 

He couldn’t see a thing inside, and it was freaking him out. The makeshift torch he held in his hand did almost nothing to help. 

_ Come on Stephan, you can handle this. You’ve grappled with the undead, you can deal with a little darkness,  _ he thought to himself. It wasn’t very reassuring. The only reason he was able to kill that zombie in the first place was that the nearby sunlight did the job for him. Down in the cave, he would have no such advantage. 

_ Whelp, here goes nothing _ . 

He took a deep breath and stepped forward into the cave. 

* * *

Now that he had been walking for five minutes, he realized that this cave system was even larger than the entrance had implied. He had thought that he’d maybe have to walk for a few minutes before he found some iron, but so far he hadn’t come across anything. 

What he did come across, and what he was very creeped out by, was a collection of discarded bones that had obviously been recently moved. One of them even had bite marks. Something was very clearly in here with him, and it didn’t help his mental state that Stephan could barely see more than ten steps ahead of himself. He considered leaving, but he wasn’t sure that whatever monster was also in here wasn’t behind him, considering the knots that the cave tunnels weaved through the ground. And if he left now, he still wouldn’t have what he came for. 

Another step forward, deeper and deeper.  _ I hope I can still find my way out after this,  _ he thought. 

Out of nowhere, an animalistic scream echoed throughout the caves, making Stephan stumble and fall to the ground, sending his torch skittering to the floor. He looked around for the source, but couldn’t find it in the darkness. Picking his torch back up, he scrambled to his feet and started tip toeing further into the cave. 

_ I really should just get out of here,  _ he thought _. There’s gotta be iron somewhere else _ . 

And he was just about to leave when a whimper stopped him in his tracks. Stephan took another few steps forward and peered around the corner, and was met with the sight of a small ash grey wolf. As he stepped closer, he could see that the wolf had a bleeding cut on its leg. If he didn’t act fast, the wound might become infected, and he wasn’t willing to let that happen. 

“Hey little guy,” he said as he set down his torch and moved closer, “don’t move for me, okay?”

Trying not to startle the wolf, he tiptoed closer, until he was able to kneel right next to the wolf. The wolf leaned away from his hand, but couldn’t stand itself up to leave. 

_ What can I even do here? _ Stephan thought to himself.  _ I don’t have anything to wrap it with _ .

Then he thought to himself for a bit, and realized that wasn’t necessarily true. 

_ God, I hope I can find another shirt later _ , he thought as he ripped off the front portion of his sleeve and wrapped it around the wolf’s leg. It wouldn’t be a permanent solution, but it would be enough for now. 

“What did this to you?” Stephan asked the wolf, to no response. The wolf only stared at Stephan, slightly wagging its tail. 

With that problem taken care of, Stephan took another look around the cave, and set his eyes on a lucky bounty: a bow and quiver of arrows, right there in front of him. All he had to do was rip it out of the skeleton that was holding on to them!

Rip it out of the skeleton’s hands. 

Ew. 

_ Oh, this is going to be so creepy _ , he thought as a shiver went through him. 

He took another look at the wolf to make sure it wasn’t going to leave, and then stepped over to the skeleton. Stephan tugged on the bow in the Skeleton’s hand, but it wouldn’t budge. 

_ Oh come on, just move already! _

Pulling with all his might, he gave one final tug that launched him backwards, taking both the bow and the skeleton’s hand with him. 

_ So disgusting, _ he thought until he finally managed to pry the hand off of the bow. He then picked up the quiver of arrows, and strapped it around his back. 

The wolf started barking. 

“What, what is it?” he jokingly asked, but the wolf wasn’t barking at him. It was barking at something right above him. Stephan turned his head up just in time to see a large hairy mass drop onto his face. 

“God, get the hell off me!” he shouted as he grabbed onto the  _ thing _ on top of him and pulled with all his might, throwing it across the room. 

Now that he could get a good look at the thing, he realized just how much of a threat it was. A giant, two foot long spider scrambled back up the wall he just threw it at, its eight red eyes staring straight at him. 

_ Can’t I ever catch a break?  _

Stephan initially threw his hands towards his dagger, but changed his mind when he realized just how little he wanted to get near that thing. Instead, he readied his new bow and knocked an arrow, aiming towards the creature. 

The spider clambered up the wall of the cave, hissing at Stephan. Now on the ceiling, it ran towards him, getting ready to pounce. Aiming at the spider’s eyes, fingers trembling, Stephan released his arrow. 

What would have been a direct hit skewed slightly right and instead pierced one of the spider’s legs, causing it to drop from the ceiling. With the arrow stuck deep in its leg, the spider screeched and ran deeper into the tunnel. Stephan cursed his shaky hands and leapt to his torch, picked up the wolf in his other hand, and ran. 

* * *

A short while later, Stephan returned home. He set down the wolf and took stock of what he had. His pickaxe, his new bow...

But not a single bit of iron. 

The wolf wagged its tail, panting happily. 

“This is your fault, you know,” Stephan said. 

The wolf did not respond. 

Rubbing his hands on his face, Stephan decided to take a small break to get a meal before he took his next step. He stepped outside to go hunting.

An hour later, he was roasting a chicken over the fire. 

The wolf, feeling slightly better, limped over to the fire and looked up at Stephan.

“What?”

The wolf yawned. 

“Ugh, fine, but wait until I’m finished cooking it, okay?”

* * *

With the wolf fed and safely shut behind his makeshift home’s door, Stephan set out for the cave again. This time, he was ready to mine some iron, and if needed kill that spider.

_ I just hope it doesn’t show up _ , he thought. 

It was getting into the late afternoon so he’d need to make this quick. He jogged over to the cave and began his second descent.

This time he knew his way better, and was aware of which branches led to dead ends and which ones led him deeper underground. As he descended deeper and deeper, he kept one hand on his torch, and the other on his dagger. Eventually, he returned to the spot where he found the wolf. The spider was nowhere to be seen.

Stephan looked around. He waited a minute. Still nothing. 

He let his shoulders drop and relaxed, letting out a quick sigh. He still needed to be on his guard, but it was clear that the spider had left the area. 

Stephan descended further through the caves, keeping his eye open for any iron veins. Finally, his eyes caught on something shiny. Streaks of iron ore glinted in the tunnel wall, pulling Stephan closer to inspect them. It was exactly what he was looking for. 

At the exact moment Stephan set his dagger down and grabbed his pickaxe, a loud hissing scream resounded right behind him. 

He rolled to his right, pickaxe still in hand, dodging the attack from the monster. Stephan took a second to note the environment around them. There was an exit on his left, but he refused to give up the iron now, and he was certainly not going to let this spider terrorize him anymore. 

As the spider turned, Stephan noticed that the arrow he had shot before was still in its leg! He circled around the spider towards the exit, hoping to provoke it. Seeing its prey starting to get away, the spider ran forwards, lagging on its left side. 

_ Gotcha. _

Reversing direction, Stephan lunged to his right and dragged his pickaxe along the legs of the spider, severing one and severely damaging the other three. The spider shrieked and tried to turn but it could barely move its body. Stephan turned around and brought the pickaxe down directly onto its face, ending its life. With the spider finally dead, he sat down. 

_ Oh my god that was so disgusting, its guts are all over my pickaxe now, oh my god. _

He took a deep breath.

It was done. It was over. 

Another breath. 

…

And that was enough. He had a job to do. 

He set out on mining the ore from the iron veins. 

A little while later, he had a large collection of iron ore chunks. It wasn’t refined enough to be made into tools, but he had a few ideas for how to solve that issue. 

* * *

When he returned to his cave, the wolf was sound asleep. He quietly set down his bounty and took a look outside. The sun had almost set. Satisfied with what he had accomplished, Stephan tucked himself into his makeshift bed. 

With his dagger close by, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this next chapter out
> 
> House had a power outage for a couple days which made writing hard but I still managed to get it out eventually
> 
> Expect future updates to come out weekly, with no set day of the week. 
> 
> Cheers!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A larger cast is introduced.

It took a day and a half of experimentation, but Stephan finally figured out how to refine the iron ore he took from the cave. His solution was to craft a furnace from the cobble he had mined thus far, with two chambers: one for heating and one right below it where he’d place the fuel. Using recently mined coal, he’d melt the iron ore, creating a pure iron layer he could shape into various molds. One of these molds was the head of a new iron axe, which was only slightly misshapen. 

Okay, maybe  _ really _ misshapen. But it was his first try, and it worked well enough, even if it was barely recognizable as an axe. Stephan cared much less about the aesthetic of his tools than he did whether or not they worked, which this one did. 

His second success was the creation of a pair of shears. After a herd of sheep had come into his area of the forest, Stephan had the idea to use some of their wool to craft a new set of bandages for the wolf he found. That he had waited this long to change the bandages made him feel sorry for the wolf and a bit sick inside. 

Now holding that beautiful pair of shears, he approached the herd of sheep. 

“Here we go, slow and steady, don’t wanna scare them,” he muttered to himself.

While most of the sheep grazed, one of them turned and faced Stephan. He froze, trying not to scare it. 

Was...was it okay? 

The sheep in front of Stephan was giving him the most absent minded stare he had ever seen (not that he could remember much of his past, but it was a  _ feeling _ ). Was it even looking at him? Its face was certainly directed towards him, but the eyes were looking in completely opposite directions.

_ Do sheep bite?  _ He asked himself.  _ Probably should have thought of that before I started this _ . 

He inched closer. And closer. And…

Finally, he got his hands on the sheep. 

“Shshsh, you’re okay,” he said, trying to soothe the sheep. Then, he took out his shears and began his work, pausing periodically to reassure the sheep that nothing was wrong. 

A few minutes later, he was walking home with way too much wool in his hands. 

“I’m back!” he called out to the wolf. “Now, let’s see about replacing those old bandages of yours…”

\--

A week later, Stephan stood on top of the hill, admiring his handiwork. He had just finished crafting a nice wooden hut, with many amazing features, including: 

A door that opened and shut!

A wood flooring, instead of cold, hard, rock!

Walls and a ceiling that actually kept the weather out!

And a warm bed, made out of wool instead of  _ grass _ . 

All this construction was hard work, but looking at it now? It was definitely worth it. 

It also kept his mind off of the situation he was in. If he was honest with himself, he hadn’t been thinking about it enough. On some level, he had been hoping that those...creatures? People? Would show up again to let him know what he should do next, but he had gotten nothing. No memories, no prophecies, nothing. 

He was also starting to get lonely. 

The wolf, which he had named “Cam,” was helping a little bit on that front, but he wished that he had someone else he could talk to. As far as he knew, he was the only sentient being alive in the entire world right now. 

At least he wasn’t making sock puppets out of wool yet. 

* * *

Another week had passed before he made contact with another human being. 

Stephan had been putting the finishing touches on a storage room he had added to the side of his house when a splash of something disgusting hit the backside of his head. 

He turned around, bow at the ready to fight what he thought was a spider and instead came face to face with...a llama?

What the hell?

Attached to the llama were two chests and a lead, and following that brought his eyes to a person in a deep blue garb.

An actual person. 

“Hel--Hello?” he said.

“Would you put that thing down? You’re scaring Shirley!” the person responded back, pulling down her hood. 

“Sorry!” he said, and put away his bow and arrow. “It’s just been so long since I’ve even seen anyone else. Who are you? Where am I?”

“Slow down, slow down,” the stranger responded, “I’m Trish, and while I understand that sometimes we all need some time away from other people, I don’t appreciate you setting up your vacation hovel right in the middle of my trade route. And I really don’t appreciate you acting like you own this valley with that bow of yours! Although, this does give me an idea for where we could set up an inn...Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be open to running a bar now, would you?”

“What?”

“No, of course not. People like you never do, never willing to get their hands dirty and work, too happy galavanting in the woods getting in the way of us honest traders, claiming everything for yourself,” Trish continued muttering to herself. Stephan, on the other hand, was having a mental breakdown over all this new information flooding into his brain. 

“There are...other people?” his voice barely above a whisper, he stared at Trish in wonder. 

“You...doing alright, kid?” the trader snapped out of her thoughts and returned her attention to Stephan. “Maybe you’ve been spending a bit too much time in the wilderness. How long have you been out here?”

“About three weeks, I think?”

“Wow, and you’re already trying to shoot poor ol’ Shirley? And I thought I was eccentric.”

“Huh?”

“Whelp, toodaloo! This land’s for everyone, so would you mind tearing down that shack? It’ll be annoying for the herders when they come out next month with their cattle if it’s still here.” She climbed up on top of Shirley and began to ride away when Stephan called out:

“Wait! Take me with you!”

Trish pulled the reins on the llama and turned her head. 

“What in hell are you talking about, kid? Did you not bring enough food or something?”

“No, I--I literally just woke up here on that beach over there,” he waved offhandedly, “and I’ve been surviving in the wilderness ever since--I would really like it if you would point me towards civilization.” 

Trish pondered that for a moment. 

“You know what kid? My previous partner ditched me in the last village we were in, and I could use some assistance selling my goods when we arrive at Roelon. How about you pack up whatever you got in that hut of yours, strap it to Shirley here, and we can hit the road. Sounds like you got a fun story to tell and it can be pretty boring out on the trail all by myself.”

Stephan quickly ran inside, grabbing all his stuff. He debated taking the wool blanket he had made, but decided keeping his tools was more important. He could always find more wool later, but he’d rather not have to go iron mining if he wasn't forced to. 

Cam, not understanding what was going on, bounced alongside Stephan as he grabbed his stuff. Thankfully, his leg was fully healed, and he’d be able to walk with Stephan to Roelon.

A few minutes later, the duo emerged from the house, hands overflowing with tools and materials. 

Trish’s eyes grew wide. “You really did recreate civilization out here, didn’t ya?” 

She patted the chest strapper onto Shirley. “Here, throw your stuff in here. You’ll be walking a while and it’ll be much harder if you keep dropping things.”

“What should I do about the house?”

“I said we could use another inn didn’t we? I’ll see if anyone in town might want to set up something out here.”

And with everything settled, they finally hit the trail. 

* * *

Ten minutes into their walk, Stephan finally worked up the courage to ask questions.

“So, uh--where are we, exactly?”

“How general are we talking?” she said, side-eyeing him. 

“...Very?” 

“Well, right now, we’re in the Prisleyin valley, which is south of Roelon. The whole valley is surrounded by mountains, so you can only get through by either the north or the south passages, which’ll take you to Roelon or Seaside, respectively. Well, there’s also an opening across the ravine, but we can’t exactly cross that ginormous thing. That clue you in on where you are?”

“That didn’t help at all.”

“Well sorry for spending my time recounting elementary geography to you!”

“No no, I don’t mean that you weren’t useful, I just mean I don’t recognize any of those places.” 

“You’re kidding.”

“No?”

“What did you say happened to you again? Woke up on a beach?”

“That’s right.” he nodded. 

“You think you washed ashore after a bad shipwreck? Might explain why you ain’t familiar with the geography here if ya came from some other continent.” 

“That would make sense, I guess. Wouldn’t explain the memory loss though.”

“Memory loss?”

“Yeah, I can’t remember much of my past. Only a few small memories.”

“Huh.” she scoffed, turning back to the road. 

“Hey, have you ever heard of...they’re hard to describe. Like people, but completely black skin and spindly, like a couple feet higher than any person?

“No idea what you’re talking about, kid.” 

“They’re covered in this weird purple dust, with these striking green eyes.”

“That didn’t help in the slightest.”

“Oh, alright...” Stephan had hoped that he’d be able to get some information on those things that had been there when he’d woken up, but it looked like he’d have to wait. 

“You might find some luck talking to my daughter about it. She’s a bit older than you, likes spending her time out in the wilds fighting monsters. If there’s anything to know about the crazy creatures out there, she knows it, kid.” 

“Wait, hold up. You keep calling me kid, how old do you think I am?” 

“Uh...18?”

“I’m 24.”

“Wow, Could’ve fooled me. How the hell do you keep your skin so clear?” Trish leaned in closer to Stephan’s face, making him pull back. 

“Uhh, you were saying something about your daughter?”

“Oh right,” she said, pulling back into the saddle, “I guess she is about your age then. Yeah, she takes every chance she gets to go kill the monsters outside of Roelon. Not that I’m opposed to all the materials she brings in, I’d just appreciate it if she’d help around the store a bit more.”

“What exactly do you sell?”

“Oh, a bit of everything. Seeds from every region, packed ice, exotic foods, you name it. Lately we’ve been selling a lot of slime ever since my daughter went in and took out that slime colony that had set up in a nearby swamp. Even with the glut we got of that slime, we nearly ran out giving it to the redstone workers’ guild. Not that I understand a thing they do with it, but getting those weird contraptions in return is quite nice.” 

“So, when we get to Roelon, can I speak with your daughter about the figures?”

“Oh yeah, sure, if she’s not busy screwing around somewhere. That girl just can’t seem to sit still.”

* * *

Alex may have fucked up. 

While the hill she was on was certainly an advantageous battle position in the abstract, it was useless without the bow that she left at home. If there was only one skeleton attacking her, she might be able to kill it with her sword, but with three skeletons shooting at her? That wasn’t happening. 

And while this tree was pretty good cover from their arrows, that creeper slowly climbing up the hill would make it disappear pretty soon. She could definitely outrun the creeper if it was alone, but the moment she left cover those skeletons would fill her with arrows. 

Yeah, she might be fucked. 

_ Okay Alex, think _ .  _ Three skellies and a creeper shouldn’t be that difficult to kill, right?  _

That would normally be true, if she had brought a ranged weapon. Again, she reminded herself just how  _ stupid _ she was to forget her bow the  _ one _ time she’d needed it. 

No sense in continuing to beat herself up about it. She needed a plan, fast. 

_ Alright, creeper reaction times are at least a second, maybe more if I’m lucky. After that I’ve got about two seconds before it blows up. My leather can absorb some of the explosion, but I’ll need to get mostly clear of the blast radius.  _

She peered around the edge of the tree to take another look, and was promptly forced by an arrow to lean back into cover. 

_ Skeletons are sharp shots, but aim slowly. If I rush them, I might be able to overwhelm them before they get a shot off, or at least before they get a shot off that actually hits me.  _

_ Alright, here goes nothing _ . 

With her plan formed, she flew forward from her cover. Ducking under an arrow, she slid down the hill right into the creeper, dragging it with her as she tumbled down.

One.

The creeper started hissing and expanding. 

Two.

This was probably the part that could go the most wrong, but it was her best shot. 

At the bottom of the hill, she smacked the creeper down on the ground. The skeletons looked dangerously close to shooting her, but they hadn’t expected her to so quickly slide down the hill, and she now had a clear opening. 

On the count of three she jumped. 

Immediately, the shockwave propelled her forward through the gap in their formation. The sound of bones flying apart never reached her ears, instead she could only hear ringing. 

_ I’m going to regret that when I’m older _ , she thought as she tried to get up. But instead, her arms gave out from under her. 

_ Okay, I think I’ll just sit here a bit longer _ . 

In the back of her mind, she knew that she’d need to get up before more monsters swarmed the area, but for now…

She was going to rest. 

* * *

“Yeah, she does sound pretty crazy.” Stephan told Trish. 

“That girl never knows when to stop. She’s good, but everyday I tell her that one day it’ll catch up to her.”

By the time they’d finished their conversation, the sun had already set, and they were coming up on a campsite set up in the middle of a spruce forest. 

“Alright now. You get some rest Stephan, I’ll wake you up in four hours to keep watch over the site.” 

“You know what, I’ll take the first shift.”

Trish turned her head towards Stephan. “Really? After making you walk all this way I was gonna be kind to ya and let you rest first, but suit yourself.”

While it was true that Stephan’s feet were killing him, he still felt restless. The tall trees all around him made him feel trapped, like he was being closed in. Maybe after a few hours of watch he could prove to himself that he was okay, he didn’t have anything to worry about. 

His past experience with monsters made that hard to believe, though. 

“Good night then. Wake me up when the moon hits its zenith.” Trish said before immediately falling asleep. 

“Good night,” he muttered, staring into the fire. Trish had told him that the fire should keep most of the monsters away, but that didn’t keep them from ensuring their safety with the watch system. 

He held his hands out to the campfire. It was so warm....

And then he saw a flash, and images started pouring through his head.

_ “Come on, Stephan! Leave them behind, they’re not going to make it.” _

“ _ But we can’t just let them die! There’s so many people, it’ll turn all of them--” _

_ “Damn it Stephan, they were never going to make it anyway. I’m trying to keep you alive, so keep fucking moving. _ ”

_ Screams, the groaning of monsters. Buildings falling down all around him as he leapt into a deep purple. And so much fire. Everything was burning.  _

And then he was back sitting at the campfire. 

_ Fuck _ . Where did that come from?

Stephan looked around, remembering what he was supposed to be doing. 

Nothing, except--

Something was out there in the darkness. A spot where it was noticeably darker, impossible to see through. And was that...Stephan blinked, rubbing his eyes. When he looked again, whatever was there before had disappeared. 

  
_ Maybe I should have taken the second shift after all _ . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was fun to write! Having multiple characters interact is much more fun to write than forcing one person to do all the work themself. 
> 
> Looking forward to writing the next chapter where the two protagonists will finally meet.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephan finally arrives at the village of Roelon, and meets Alex. Together, they discuss what's been happening to Stephan, and devise a plan to figure out what to do next.

Cam bounded in front of Stephan, demanding affection from every person he came across. 

“Cam, come back here!” Stephen yelled, chasing after the wolf. He eventually caught up to him, but not before he had attached himself to the leg of a farmer just trying to move some hay. 

“Sorry!” he said before quickly snatching Cam up in his arms and returning to Trish’s side.

After finishing his shift the night before, Stephan finally managed to get some sleep away from the memories that had been coming back to him. It’s not that he didn’t want to remember his past, but the flashbacks weren’t the medium he preferred to receive them by. 

Roelon was a small town, but heavily fortified. After emerging from the forest after a few hours of travel, they had finally arrived at the outskirts of the town. Outside the gates of the city were several large farms, patrolled by large iron golems with cracks running down and around their bodies. On the wall themselves were several villagers armed with crossbows, joking around with each other and only paying the minimum attention to the world around them. Smiles grew quickly on their faces as they saw Trish. 

“Those boys love it when I come to town. They always end up breaking their gear and need me to replace it. Right now I’d bet James over there is using his sister’s crossbow, rather than admit to the captain that he actually broke another of the village’s stash.” Trish said. “Hey, I forgot to ask you earlier, but now that we’re near the store I’m getting really curious. What are those things you’re wearing on your legs? They look really fancy for all the work you were doing out there in the wilderness” Trish said. 

“...Jeans?” Stephan said. 

“Huh. Never seen anything like them before. They also come from whatever far off land you’re from?” 

“Uh, I guess?” 

“Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t remember. Hey, if you ever remember how to get back, lemme know so I can start a trade route. I’d love to know how they got that fabric so tough, or how they got that dye to mix so well.”

“I don’t think that’s gonna happen any time soon.”

Trish frowned. “Ain’t that a shame.” 

They traveled the cobblestone road of the village for a few more minutes. Village might be too light of a description--the settlement was actually fairly dense, now that he was inside the walls to see it. Stephan supposed that when it came to the monsters of the world, keeping the amount of land they had to patrol and keep lit small was essential. 

“Alright, we’re here,” Trish announced. 

Trish stopped Shirley right in front of a large two floor corner store. On the door was a sign that said “Trish’s Treasures” with a cartoonish picture of Trish winking. Through the glass windows Stephan could see armor, pristine iron tool sets, breads, fruits, and many other exotic goods. Stephan assumed the second floor was her living space, considering the decorative curtains in the windows. 

As Trish was tying Shirley to a pole outside the store, she called out to Stephan. “Why don’t you go inside and get changed? If you go upstairs there’ll be a room on your right where you can set a bath for yourself and clean up.”

“What, do I smell bad or something?”

Trish turned to him. 

“Stephan, you’ve been in the wilderness for three weeks with only one pair of clothes. Yes, you smell bad.” 

_ Jeez, you don’t need to be rude about it _ , he thought as he grabbed a new outfit and went upstairs to wash off. 

* * *

Half an hour later, Stephan was walking down the stairs, drying his hair with a towel. It had been a long time since he’d experienced running, heated water. Now that he was in a real settlement, he could finally relax, maybe eat a meal someone else prepared, sleep, or--

“Hey Stephan, get over here! I need your help!”

That might have to wait. 

“What do you need, Trish?”

Trish set down all the junk she was holding in her hands and turned to Stephan. 

“Okay, I’ve got a few tasks for you before you go anywhere. First, take all of your stuff and bring it up to the guest room. I’ll let you sleep there for now, since you don’t exactly have anywhere else to go, and I’m not paying for a room somewhere else. Consider your assistance in the store payment for room and board. Next, you’ll want to take these seed bags and dump them into those containers over there. The labels on the bag correspond to the labels on the containers, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble with that. Lastly, you’ll want to take these port crystals and  _ very carefully _ place them in that case over there.”

Stephan was very jealous of Cam, who was now taking a nap in the corner. 

“Port crystal?”

“These things.”

What Trish held up was one of the strangest things Stephan had ever seen, and yet it seemed oddly familiar. It was a crystal ball, with a dark green tint. Inside it however was the darkest void he had ever seen. Almost like a hole had been ripped in the fabric of space, and not even light could travel through it. 

“Yeah, you gotta be real careful with this. They’re easy to shatter, and if it does you’ll be teleported across the room. Whatever void magic it uses to move you really hurts too. So I’ll say this again. Be careful with this.”

“Sure, yeah,” he took the crystal. Feeling its weight in his hand. It was impossibly smooth, a perfect sphere. “Where did you find this?”

“The crystal? Well, I don’t know where  _ they  _ find them, but the adventurers and monster hunters sometimes bring them in to trade with me. Alex would probably know all about ‘em.”

Holding it against his chest, it felt so very familiar. So many emotions rushed in. Longing. Emptiness. Sadness. Loss. Hope. He began to reminisce, grasping at another aspect of his past. Something was very important about this crystal, and maybe he could remember something if he just--

And then the door  _ SLAMMED _ open, derailing his train of thought. Stephan had to juggle the crystal so he wouldn’t drop it on the floor. 

Trish turned around to greet the person entering the store. “Speak of the devil!!”

“Hey Mom! Hey new guy!” the woman entering the store said, lugging an enormous bag. 

“Hey Alex, this is Stephan. He’s from the wilderness.”

“That’s cool, Mom.” Alex put her bag down in the corner and began walking upstairs. 

“Oh wait, you’re Alex? Would you mind--” Stephan started.

“Can’t talk, too busy taking a nap!” Alex shouted from the second floor. 

A second later, Stephan heard another slam. 

“You’ll have to ask her later then. Once you’re done putting away the stuff I already told you to, you can help me unload the materials she brought in.” 

And then he heard another slam, this one presumably Alex’s bedroom door opening.

“Oh my god, is this a wolf? You got us a wolf?” Alex said, beaming with excitement.

“No, Alex, that’s Stephan’s wolf.” Trish said.

“Wait, why is--” Stephan looked around the room and couldn’t find Cam. “How did--”

Alex came down the stairs, Cam jumping down each step excitedly with her. “Damn, dude, did you tame this thing yourself?” 

“Uh, I guess? I patched it up after it got hurt, and then it just started following me.”

“Wow, cool. Alright, gonna go take that nap now. Afterwards I’ll see if this thing knows any tricks.” Alex turned back towards the stairs. 

“Wait!” Stephan said. “Trish-- I mean, your mom -- said that you could answer the questions I had?”

“Unless your questions are about monster killing, there’s not much I can do to help you man.” Alex said. 

“Well, they kind of are? I was wondering if you could tell me anything you knew about these...I guess they’re like tall, black-as-night humanoids? Covered with purple dust, striking green eyes?”

“Purple eyes.” 

“What? Wait, so you know about them?” Stephan said. 

“Well, with that description, you’re most likely talking about Void Stalkers, but I’ve only ever seen them with purple eyes. Not that they stay around long enough for most people to get a good look at them, but everyone who’s seen one knows they’ve got purple eyes, not green or some other color. How did you come across them?”

Trish interjected. “Look y’all, I’m sure it’s nice to chat, but I really would like to open up the store tomorrow, and to do that we need to have all these goods stored and ready. How about y’all talk while you’re working?”

Alex snorted. “Sure, I guess. I can sleep later.”

* * *

“So, here’s my theory.” Alex said, tossing a port crystal between her hands. “Some witch or whatever used her magic to turn your parents into Void Stalkers, and they want you to go find that witch and make her free them. But that witch was smart, so she used some sort of memory loss potion on you, which is why you’re struggling to even remember a single thing about your past.”

“Hey, I remember some stuff,” Stephan said, “and there were three of them, remember? Couldn’t just be my parents.”

“Hey man, I wouldn’t judge you for your unconventional family structure. Live and let live, you know?” 

“What?” 

“Okay, well how about this: You and your family were mining to the center of the world for diamonds, and you all somehow mined through the bedrock and fell into the void. Then, you got reincarnated on that beach, and the rest of your family lost their bodies.”

“I don’t think that’s it. Why would I be the only one not affected? Why would we even be that far down underground?” Stephan placed down the last skeleton head on the rack facing the window. 

“Well, what’s your theory? Seems like I’m the only one trying to figure out the answer to this whole thing.” Alex stuck her tongue out at him.

Stephan rubbed his eyes. “Hey, how about this: what if we go find one? Maybe I can try to remember something else if I can induce another flashback.”

“Not a bad idea. I’ve never killed one myself…”

“Wait, I wasn’t implying we needed to--”

“But I know someone who has, and he’s free to talk later tonight.” Alex went on, ignoring Stephan.

“And you think he’ll help us?” 

“Absolutely!”

* * *

“Absolutely not!”

“But Gabriel!” Alex whined. 

“No, Alex. You’re a fine fighter, but a Void Stalker? You do not have the technical capability to take one of those things out. You can’t rush into fights with those things, they’ll teleport all around you and stab you in the back!” Gabriel responded angrily.

Stephan marveled at the massive hall they were in. It had taken them a while to cross the village, but it was worth it for this view. The Champion’s Hall was gorgeous, with tall arching ceilings and beautifully crafted banners hanging from the rafters. 

“I’m not  _ that  _ imcompetent, Gabriel. Do you know how many zombies I’ve killed, how many skeletons I’ve slain? How many--”

It was almost beautiful enough to drown out all the noise of the universe, letting him stay immersed in the masterful architecture. 

“Exactly my point! You’ve never faced anything like a Void Stalker. You have absolutely no business--”

Almost. 

“No business? I’m trying to help my friend here help his family, who was turned into Void Stalkers by a Witch!” 

_ Wait, when did we decide THAT was the story? _

“And you’re asking me to tell you how to kill them?!” 

“Okay, so maybe I haven’t thought it completely through--”

“That’s your problem. You don’t mess around with monsters, Alex, especially not with Void Stalkers. You’ll get yourself killed.” 

Stephan figured that Gabriel was in fact very, very correct. 

“Well you know what? I don’t need this, I can figure it out on my own!” 

_ I? Wasn’t this my problem? _

“Alex, please. You’re not prepared. You don’t know their weaknesses, their strengths, their--”

“Maybe I don’t know everything right now, but I can handle it! Just because I’m not some super fighter like you doesn’t mean I can’t be quick on my feet, or figure things out when I need to!”

“You know, I would actually very much like to hear about their weaknesses--” Stephan said, before Alex interrupted him.

“Come on, Stephan. We’re gonna go give those stalkers a taste of their own medicine, with or without Gabriel’s help” 

Gabriel shook his head. “If you’re going either way, at least bring some water to use against them. It has a corrosive effect on their skin.”

Alex threw the door open, revealing a sky painted orange by the sunset. Stephan chased after her as she stomped back to Trish’s store.

“Alex!”

Finally, once they neared the store, she began slowing down.

“Alex, stop!”

She halted in her tracks. “Stephan, do you not want to do this?”

“No! I mean, yes? Look, Alex, I’m curious, but I don’t want us to get killed.”

Alex looked down at the ground. “I know, I just--I’m just so tired of sitting back and doing nothing important! All I’ve been able to do is fight your bog standard monsters, and the most I can get off of them is rotten flesh or bones. I’ve spent years fighting these things, and I still have nothing to show for it!”

“Nothing? What about all the benefits it brings in for your mom? Everything she’s able to turn around and sell to keep y’all stable?”

“Still! I could be doing so much more if they would only trust me! You know, the one time I did something different and took out a slime colony, Gabriel told the guards not to let me leave town without an escort for the next week! He doesn’t trust me to do anything serious!

“Hey, how about we slow down, do some more research and training, and then we go after them? Gabriel may be restrictive, but he’s right that we shouldn’t just rush into this. Also, please remember that we’re not trying to kill a Void Stalker, just see if we can observe it for a while, maybe make me remember something.”

Alex kept staring downwards, refusing to meet Stephan’s gaze. 

“Alex?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s just get some rest.”

Stephan agreed, and made his way into the store, but not before noticing the guard stationed at the corner across the street. 

* * *

Later that night, Stephan woke up in the guest bedroom feeling incredibly thirsty. On the way back from getting a drink, he noticed a faint light shining down the hallway. 

_ Is someone still awake? _

Stephan tiptoed down the hallway to the door of the room the faint light was shining through. Pushing the handle, he saw Alex hunched over at her desk, a candle illuminating the journal she was writing in. 

“Alex? What are you doing still awake?”

Alex turned around with a cheeky grin. “Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to intrude?”

Stephan stood there for a moment.

“Oh, shit, sorry, I forgot about that. But, uh, seriously man, if you’re gonna live in my house, I need you not to walk into my room without asking.”

Stephan finally broke through his sleep-induced haze and blushed, realizing what he was doing. 

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll go now.” 

She chuckled. “Wait a second, you might be able to help me with this.”

Stephan stepped over, looking at the journal Alex was writing in. The left page was mostly blank, but at the top, there were a few sentences describing what Alex knew about Void Stalkers. On the right, she had drawn a small picture of one. 

“Earlier, Stephan, you said that the eyes on the Void Stalkers you saw were green, not purple. Was there anything else strange about them? Anything we can use to our advantage?”

“I think I’ve told you everything. I doubt that anything I told you about them would be all that useful anyway, considering we can’t know whether the ones that talked to me on the beach would be the same ones we’d encounter around here.”

“Right, right,” Alex muttered, staring at the journal. “You said it was on a beach?”

“Yep.”

“You think they left on purpose, or were they forced to? Gabriel said their weakness was water…”

“I thought you didn’t want Gabriel’s help?”

Alex sighed. “I give that guy shit, but he knows his stuff. I don’t think he’s right about my capabilities, but the information he has on monsters is encyclopedic.” 

She tapped her pen on the table repeatedly, and then jotted down a few more words. Stephan thought about whether to tell her about the guard he had seen earlier, but decided against it, at least until tomorrow morning. 

“God, I’m tired,” Alex said. 

“I’m going to bed now. Get some sleep, Alex.” 

“Hey, let’s do some training tomorrow, alright? If we’re gonna take on a Void Stalker, then I’ll need you to be ready.”

“You think you’re already prepared? A bit arrogant, perhaps?” Stephan smirked. 

“Get out of my room, Stephan.”

“Yeah yeah. Good night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a bit longer with this chapter than I planned to, but I wanted to make sure it was up to my standards. In the future, expect similar times of 1-2 weeks for updates. 
> 
> The toughest part of this fiction is figuring out the worldbuilding. What does the technology look like? How might a society develop with monsters out at night? 
> 
> Other things I've researched over the course of writing this:
> 
> How to smelt iron  
> Feed dog cooked or raw chicken?  
> What is denim
> 
> I hope you're enjoying so far!


End file.
